Can’t figure out if this is one of the blessings or curses of being on staff at a church…?
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Tag Archives: career
What’s your favorite thing to do at work?
3. How to stop a train
Considering today’s fast-paced, high-productivity, workaholic lifestyle, we are at great risk of being hit by a train – even if we’re on the right track.
Ok, so, this is not about a real train. A figurative train. A train of stress, fatigue, and even sickness. Plus, if we’re walking with others in this life, the train might hit them too – usually in the form of relational stress and all that blah blah.
About the title of this post. There’s no real way to stop a train, unless you’re the conductor. And, those of us who think they’re in the driver’s seat are the ones who are most likely to get hit by that train.
Let’s review: We can’t stop the train. And we’re not on the train. We’re just on track. It may be the right track; it may be the wrong track. But, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that we’re walking walking walking.
We’re not sitting. We’re not stopping. We’re just walking.
… and here comes the train.
So far this week we’ve focused on having some alone time and getting to know ourselves, but that’s not the point of the Selah. What we’re really supposed to be doing is stopping. Now, as I drag this metaphor out as long as I possibly can, let’s take a minute to stop. Stick our ear to the ground & listen. Or just sit on the tracks to feel the rumble.
Because here’s the point: how close is the train – and do you need to step off the track for a moment to let it pass?
So… Why Not?
I just called my mom (11:11am this morning) and asked her what I wanted to be when I grew up. I seriously don’t remember.
She said I wanted to be an Artist. When I thought about it, I wasn’t surprised. She was right. I remember everyone around me expecting me to get a college degree in Visual Arts, even though I decided to go into Sociology. I remember wanting to become a Christian Counselor. I remember pursuing that direction for my life.
So here I sit. Having dropped out of the seminary’s Christian Counseling degree two years ago. And what is it that I’m burning to do? I’m still creating. Now I create music instead of art. But, it all comes from the same part of me.
Here I sit, wanting to get paid to make stuff. Dreaming of being a professional song writer. Thinking about the impossibilities of going back to school for a graphic arts degree. Wondering if anyone will ever even want one of my songs. Bracing to live life like all the other “starving artists” who would rather live off nothing to create all day.
I’d rather “starve” than not create – live off less so I have time to do more. I’m realizing that I wish I did what everyone (including my mom) encouraged me to do. I wish I got that Visual Arts degree back then. At least I might be paid for creating, instead of “starving” because I do.
At the end of the day, this I know: It’s not about the money. It’s about being “me.” At 30 years old, I’m still “me” – the little girl I was back then, wanting to create stuff. I’m just trying to figure out when and why I decided I shouldn’t be… me.
What about you? What about those of you who answered that question in the post below? Why not? Why didn’t you become a firefighter or truck driver or dancer or pom-pom girl? What happened?
PS: We’re not starving. I use this term loosely… Figuratively.
call me crazy: 2:30
2:30
that’s what time i get off work on friday’s.
they call it “summer hours” around here. aaaahhhhhhh…. i think friday’s 2:30 is the most divine moment of the week (well, aside from church on sundays. ahem!) if heaven has clocks, i bet they all read 2:30. the eternal bliss of 2:30…
when 2:30 rolled around yesterday, i got excited just because i knew that today i would get off work at that time!
its the little things in life that bring the greatest joy, right?
what’s one or two of your “little things” that bring you joy – that make you excited, even though other people might say you’re crazy?
